Review of Verbier, Switzerland

Resort Overview for Verbier:

Verbier is one of the world's greatest ski resorts and is ranked by many experienced skiers in their top 10, or top 5, or even number one. The resort has it all; a huge ski area with a vast vertical, topped with a glacier ; an authentic Swiss village with chalet-style architecture and great mountain scenery above and action-packed night life with excellent off-slope facilities. These combined attractions draw skiers from all over the world, but with a far better and wider international mix than many other international resorts with British, North American, German, French, Benelux, Dutch and Scandinavian guests all figuring prominently.

Verbier is something of a 'purpose-built' resort, although not in the way most people think today. Before 1925 there were no skiers here, and very few people, what is now the ski area only being used as summer pasture for cattle. The first hotel was built and ski lessons were given two years later and in 1928 Verbier's first baby was born and the resort's population reached three.

By the end of World War II, the year-round population was still only 27. Then Government experts declared that Verbier's south-west facing plateau location in the French speaking part of the country was "...one of the sunniest in Switzerland, its climate is dry, with hardly any fog and of great biological and therapeutic value."

The first lift, in 1946, was a rather dangerous mechanised sledge-on-a-rope and the resort didn't finally explode onto the international scene until ten years after that. The famous church with its 40 metre (130 foot ) spire that dominates the resort to this day was completed in 1962 and the resort was one of the first to offer a skier uplift of 10,000 per hour by the mid '60s. Today the local figure is over 40,000 sph, greater for the full 4 Vallées pass.

The Skiing in Verbier:

The 4 Vallées Ski area is one of the largest lift-linked areas in the world and the largest truly-linked and wholly in Switzerland. The maximum skiable vertical, when conditions are right, involves a trail of 15km (nearly 10 miles ) descending more than 2,500m ( 8230 feet) again one of the biggest and best verticals in the world.

Verbier has a good percentage of high-tech lifts able to shift large numbers of skiers quickly, most famously 'Le Jumbo' cable car, which carries 150 people at a time up to the Mont Fort glacier . In addition the Funispace lift contains giant gondola cabins on twin wires each capable of carrying 30 passengers. Other recent additions are the Chaux Express and Les Attelas lifts, increasing capacity and speed olf access on key routes

Experts will be especially enraptured by what's on offer around Verbier. Highlights include the legendary Tortin snow bowl with its huge bumps, the extreme couloirs down from Les Attelas, the steep skiing around Mont Gele and the notorious Gentianes run below the cable car. Ski safaris are organised by the ski schools to French and Italian resorts in the area and heli-skiing is another popular option.

Ski mountaineering is yet another of the Verbier's strengths, lying as it does on the legendary 'Haute Route' between Chamonix and Zermatt (6 days). Intermediates inevitably have the greatest choice with hundreds of miles/kilometres of trails in the blue/red category. The huge Lac des Vaux bowl with lifts rising in every direction is one of the many options. Beginners may feel daunted by the skiing mecca all around them, but nonetheless have sunny nursery slopes just above the village centre.

Cross country skiers have half a dozen 4 and 5km (2.5- 3 mile) loops to choose from starting in the various Vallées villages, and there is a 30km ( 18 mile ) route through Val de Bagnes.

Après Ski in Verbier:

Verbier's nightlife offers something for everyone but is generally more "happening" than most of its competitors. Le Bar below the Chez Martin restaurant has great music, as does the Crock No Name which is also famous for its Long Island Ice Tea. The large Nelson Pub and the two-level Mont Fort Pub are both famous for being action-packed through to 1.30am. The more laid-back King's Bar serves cocktails, fine wines by the glass, malts and Havana rums and cigars.

There are five night clubs in Verbier open up to 4am, Icebox beyond the Post Office attracts the young crowd. Taratata has two styles of music and three bars. Le Farm Club has no dress code but normally has queues if you arrive late. Casbah is a late, late lounge bar and night club which opens just as the other bars are winding down.

Teenagers tend to gather at the fast-food and games room Big Ben club near the Medran lift.

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Accommodation in Verbier:

Search through our database to rent private ski chalets direct from the owners in Verbier. Contact owners directly to make a booking. Rent ski chalet Verbier, Switzerland

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